Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Soul Mirrors by Wiley A. Haydon III #paranormal #fantasy

My love of storytelling traces
back to my step-mother, who spun wonderful fantasy stories when I was child. I
finished my first novel at sixteen. That first attempt was terrible, but taught
me quite a bit about story construction. Though I would start numerous other
projects in the following years, I wouldn't actually complete another book for
another 21 years.

I wasn't idle in that time,
though. I earned a degree in engineering, married the love of my life, worked
as a semi- truck driver crisscrossing the country, moved from Texas to
North Dakota and then came back home.

It's been a fun and interesting
journey. I really enjoy engineering, but writing was my first passion, and I'm
excited to share it with you.

I currently live in West Texas
with my wife and our two adorable (but weird) cats.

"No one knows how
human genetics evolved to create Mirrors. No one knows how the evidence of a
criminal’s last horrendous act can be confirmed in a single gaze of a child’s
silvered eyes. But just because science can’t explain something doesn’t mean it
can’t be used, and this gift is simply too valuable to ignore.

Twins Thomas and Ashley Ross have grown up knowing they would
be used as Mirrors for the “good” of humanity. When their powers mature at age
twelve, they are taken weekly to fulfill their role. By reliving the most heinous crimes
from a perpetrators’ perspective, they alone can assure that no innocent people
will be executed, and that the worst offenders are not set free due to lack of
evidence.

Justice is not without cost, however. Taking on the
memories of others is a destructive process, one that quickly consumes the
children involved until most take their own lives. As despair threatens to
drown Thomas and Ashley, a distant hope keeps them from succumbing: If they can
make it to their eighteenth birthday, their contract with the government will
be fulfilled. Changing views on the morality of their role threatens to tear
them apart, but the twins struggle to cling to each other and try to construct
a fragile life above the weekly flood of horrors.

As their work takes it toll, however, a new
question emerges: does survival even matter when you’re already broken beyond
repair?"

“Why do you think I do this?” Sam demanded
suddenly. His voice was hard, almost angry.

“It’s
a paycheck.”

Sam
shook his head firmly. Even in the dark, Thomas could make out the gesture. “I
told you the day I met you that I could make more money doing something else.”

Memory
of a conversation floated to the surface, and instinctively Thomas pushed it
away before realizing that this time the memory seeking his attention was his
own. He remembered sitting in the plane, talking after that first Reflection.

“To
make a difference,” Thomas said. “And you don’t think you’d have done that
today.”

“Yes,
Thomas. Someday I’ll lose this job by caring too much for one of my kids, but
it wasn’t today. I’m not going to sacrifice everything when it won’t make any
difference.”

For
a long moment, Thomas processed that. Then, quietly, he said, “It would have
made a difference to me.”

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